Data recovery software is a generic term which may define totally different programs, with various specific functionality. There are cases when these functions overlap. A Windows data recovery software can also be used to recover deleted files and folders. Another software may do hard rive crash data recovery, as well as USB drives data recovery. It all depends on what the manufacturer intended to software to be good for in the first place. One of the special issues in data recovery are segmented volumes. Some people may prefer to have more than one hard disk, in order to keep their personal files separate from the computer programs, for example. In such cases, there’s no need to buy a second hard drive. You can format the disk as if there were as many separate drives as you wish, labeled C:, D:, E:, F; and so on. You can assign a certain size for each of these drives, provided that the sum of all drives does not exceed the initial disk capacity. Another segmented files situation may occur when producing file archives which need to be transported on CDs or on diskettes. If the archive size exceed the storage space of one unit, then the archive is fragmented into multiple volumes.

Partitioned Disk and Segmented Volumes Data Recovery Software

Novell Data Recovery is only one of the numerous solutions of recovering lost data from segmented drives, or even retrieving lost partitions of the drive itself. Phoenix Novell is an application which has to be installed on and run from a Windows operated hard disk. The crashed or failed disk needs to be attached as secondary to this first disk, then Novell is run onto it from its location, on the good drive. The main benefit of this software is that it can recover data from all partitions of a segmented drive simultaneously, as it automatically detects if it is about a single disk or a spanned volume. This is only one example of how to recover lost data from segmented volumes. There is specialized software for data restoration for any operating system, from Windows 95, 98, XP to Apple Macintosh, Linux, or Novell. You can buy software for any kind of data files recovery such as NTFS, FAT , HFS, NWFS, EXT2 or EXT3.

Attempting a RAID server data recovery implies deeper knowledge of the data retrieval software and procedures. This may sound insane, as this is the purpose of a RAID  system, to offer increased data security and to avoid data loss. RAID comes from Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, so they are expected to offer backups of vital data of a computers network. However, all devices can get faulty in operation every once in a while, and RAID drives make no exception to this rule. Therefore, instead of blaming it on your IT network manager, you’d better make sure he has all cautionary measures in place to keep your data safe. You need to bear in mind that fault-tolerant does not mean fault-proof. RAID data recovery will be required in case of multiple hard drives failure, to give you only one example of a data endangering situation.

RAID Data Recovery Situations

Regardless your RAID types, be them Mirror Sets or Volume Sets or even Stripe Sets with parity, and regardless the drives manufacturer, RAID data recovery is perfectly possible for any operating system and for all RAID controllers. Spanned and striped systems are very much alike when it comes to lost data retrieval. The data recovery on RAID drives may be necessary in situations like missing partitions, controller failure, corrupted RAID or missing partitions. If one or many hard drives in the RAID array system are physically damaged, it is possible that you may need to make use of data recovery specialists knowledge. You may attempt to retrieve your lost data by yourself, but if you are not sure you know how to do it, you’d better find one of those data recovery companies which have the software and the skills to to the job better and faster than you.

RAID Data Recovery Process

The usual method of recovering data is to mirror the drive volumes, then process the data as image files. Briefly, there is a software which runs and retrieves the data, making sure to reconstruct it wherever retrieving is not possible anymore due to sectors corruption. Such software is proprietary to data recovery companies and it may be better to contract their services instead of trying to buy the software.

Data recovery services are not exactly what we’d call cheap, so this is why you need to evaluate very well your data loss situation before making use of such services. Everybody deletes files from the computer by mistake. Usually, those files go into the Recycle Bin, so it is enough to learn how to retrieve deleted data from there to have your information back. However, there are situations in which data recovery is not possible anymore. Among these, we may mention a case: saving a file you are working on, in Excel, or Word, or other programs, thus overwriting a information that was correct with a wrong one. For such cases, there’s no cure, so your files are forever lost. This is why it’s very important to develop the habit of working on copies of the original files, until you are sure that what you’ve done is correct. Data recovery services do not handle this type of data loss, and most probably the professional staff from such companies will tell you the same thing from the very beginning.

You may consider buying data recovery services in one of the following situations:

  • hard drive crash: if you cannot access your HDD anymore, there’s very little you can do by yourself, so it would be strongly advisable to seek for expert data recovery help
  • hard drive natural disaster damage: if something falls on your computer, do not attempt to switch it on if you notice physical damage to the case; laptops and notebooks are very exposed to be dropped on the floor, so their hard disks may fail to operate after such an incident.
  • the failed drive is part of a RAID array: RAID data recovery is one of the most delicate operations of data retrieval, as you may easily lose your data for good if you don’t know very well what you are doing. This is why, either you need a raid 5 data recovery, or a raid 0 data recovery, or even a raid 1 data recovery, to trust the professionals and seek for their help, be it on Linux or any other computer operating system. The good news in case of a RAID or SAN having only one hard drive failed, the data recovery operation can be done remotely, saving you precious time and money.

How to Recover Data from Crashed Drives

Hard drive crash data recovery can be problematic, but not impossible. This statement is not to encourage you not to make regular backups of your hard disks. Backing up your data is a must, if you want to avoid the price for hard drive recovery data expert services. Even if you don’t care about the price, you still need to be aware that in some cases of drive failure, your data could be lost forever, no hard drive data recovery software being able to bring it back to you again. Prevention is an excellent way of getting your data safe, but people often neglect this very important aspect of their work. I’ve seen the blue screen of death so many times, that I do my backups every week, and in some cases, even daily, if I put a big amount of work into a project and I want to be able to restore it in case something happens with my computer. Hard disks are not unbreakable, they are exposed to failure, and usually they crash without early warning signals. One day you switch on your PC and it simply refuses to recognize your hard disk. It happened to me and to many other million computer users out there, so it may happen to you any given moment. The hard drive data recovery tools are not so easy to find, and many times you really need a specialist to recover the data for you, as you may do even worse, in case you make use of the wrong software.

Hard Drive Data Recovery Software

The data recovery is done using a special software which collects information from your hard drive and makes it accessible again. One of the providers of these programs which retrieve lost data is Pro Data Doctor. They offer the Windows Data Recovery Software, the FAT Partition Data Recovery Software and the NTFS Partition Data Recovery Software for $69 each. The removable media data recovery software is a bit cheaper, only $45. I haven’t tried their services, but the website looks OK, with lots of information on the specific data recovery products for specialized types of storage media, from iPod to memory cards or pen drives.

Hard Drive Data Recovery Services

There are companies which, instead of providing you the data recovery software, do the job by themselves, so you don’t have to know anything.

iPod Recovery Solutions

Stellar Phoenix iPod Recovery is an exclusive solution for your crashed iPod. The recovery tool ensures the rescue of all the deleted or crashed audio and video files from an iPod. Main causes of iPod data loss can be frozen iPod, unknown volume format, virus attack, human error and mishandling of the device etc. Stellar Phoenix iPod Recovery comes handy in recovering data in all the above cases. The scan option will quickly and efficiently extract all the recoverable files from your iPod, imaging option will help you to create an image of the media which can be stored to the system for further use. In addition, find and filter option gives advanced controls for your ease. The graphical user interface resembles the original iPod, which facilitate easiest and fastest recovery without any specialized skills and a glance of it gives complete idea about the software. Stellar Phoenix iPod Recovery software enables you to recover any type of file you are looking for including MIDI, AIFF, M4A, OGG, RPS, M4P, AU, AVI, MOV, ASF, WMV, MP4, WMA, MP3, MPG, MPEG, GIF, WAV and all other image and video formats.

Software is flexible and Multi-modal recovery features i.e. Standard Scan Recovery, Advance Scan Recovery, Raw File Scan Recovery and Image Creation. The software offers you a live demonstration of its features through a free demo version. This software scans and shows the list of repairable files. If you find the desired results, purchase the activation key to active the software and save your precious data. Stellar Phoenix iPod Recovery software is compatible with Mac OS X 10.4 and above. The Software is simple to operate and backed up by 24X5 unlimited customer supports with 30 days money back guarantee. If you want, you can download a trial version here.